Sometimes, I Just Don't Have Much To Say

People sometimes ask me why I don't talk very much. They're justified in asking, by the way, I'm not trying to put anyone down here. And it's not like I never say anything at all - There are just some situations where I'm more comfortable with speaking than others. If it's the right subject and the right situation, I could go on for hours for something. But not all the time. Sometimes, I seriously don't have anything to say.

So, if it happens that I'm with a group of people who are talking and I'm not saying much, it's really just because I don't have anything to say. It's not that I don't have anything nice to say - that's a different matter altogether - I just can't think of anything that would contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.

I don't really do "small talk," as some people call it. (Actually, I like the term "idle chitchat" better.) What I mean is, I like to be engaged in a conversation. It's not that I want to have a deep, philosophical discussion every time you call me on the phone, I just don't want to go through the motions, so to speak.

Also, it's not that I hate it when people don't include me in on their conversations. Most of the time, I perfectly happy just sitting and listening to what the people around me have to say to each other. I call it gathering ideas for writing, other people might call it eavesdropping.  Maybe it's just a writer thing, but I like to listen to others, whether they're talking to me or I just happen to be in the same room as them. The other day I found a quote about writing:

All this to say, if I'm with you and I'm not saying anything, please don't take it to mean that I'm aloof or bored. Really. I like to listen to you talk, and I feel bad if I intrude on your conversation with some random comment that barely relates. I'll contribute at some point, but in the meantime, I'll just listen.

(I hope this at least makes some degree of sense. I wrote it all out on a whim, so it might not be entirely coherent. This is just some stuff that's been on my mind lately, and I felt like I should blog about it. Thank you for reading it, and I'll see you next Friday!)

Lame Excuses For My Long Absence

It's been weeks since my last post. I am so, so terribly sorry about that. I got really swamped by English projects (plus other schoolwork), and my creativity was rather dead. Even so, I am sorry about not posting for almost two weeks now, I didn't mean to let this get away from me.

Also, for the time being, Creative Wednesday is being put on hold. It may come back sometime in the future, but for right now, I'm setting it aside.

That's about all I have to say right now though -- I'll be back on Friday, I promise!

Five Things That You (Probably) Didn't Know About Me

Suddenly, it's 10:45 on a Thursday night, and I have nothing written. Oops.
Anyway, I think the list kind of speaks for itself. I've compiled five fun facts about me that you most likely don't know. If you do, well, you're either a stalker, or you just know me really, really well. Anyway, here goes nothing!

1) I've injured myself in some pretty strange ways.
I mean, every time I've gone to the ER, it's for something completely abnormal. Here's a list:
- I cut my lip on some gravel
- I got a piece of a cornstalk stuck in the bottom of my foot
- I cut my forehead on my glasses
- I burned my hand on a toaster oven (although that one did not involve a trip to the hospital)
The time I cut my lip, I ended up getting two stitches (which fell out a few hours later). The cornstalk was just a small bit of it, but it managed to stick up through my sneaker and into my foot. The time I cut my forehead on my glasses is an interesting story. My friend and I collided while we were playing a game, and the frame of my glasses cut my forhead right above my eyelid. My friend was okay though, fortunately. And the toaster? Well, I reached into the back of the toaster to get something, and the back of my hand hit one of the burners. It hurt a lot.

2) I've always wanted to get my hair cut really, really short.
Like a pixie haircut, if you're familliar with the term. I've always thought really short hair was really cute, and for a long time I've wanted to get my hair cut really short. I never have though, I guess because it would be such a huge change. If I do ever decide to cut it though, I think I'm going to donate it to Locks of Love or another organizatioin like that.

3) I had a rock collection when I was a kid.
I kept it in a jewelry box with three drawers. The top one had some cheap, plastic "rocks" that were really supposed to be used for crafts, the middle one had some more everyday rocks that I thought were interesting, and the bottom one had some really smooth, polished rocks that I had gotten from gift shops. I think the collection started when my dad gave me some rocks he called "Tiger's Eye" or something like that. I'm not sure where he got them, but I remember that I really loved them and I loved to look at them a lot.

4) I fidget with stuff when I'm bored, nervous, or uncomfortable.
Okay, if you've seen me in person, you might know this already. Usually I play with my keys or my iPod, though sometimes I'll also tap my fingers or my feet or do something. I don't actually know why I do it, I guess it's just kind of a distraction for me.

5) I once read an entire book in an hour.
It wasn't like a whole hour, no breaks or anything though. The story goes like this: the book club in my school was reading the novel Frindle by Andrew Clements. Really, it was a bit young for me at the time, but it was such a good book and I encourage you to read it! Anyway, I picked up the book, which looked really thin to me, and my mom said that she bet I could read it in an hour. I set a stopwatch on my iPod, and it would count up during the time I read the book. If I took a break, I'd simply pause the timer. I did end up reading it in under an hour though, a feat I was very proud of at the time.

So there are five interesting things about me! See you next week!

Creative Wednesday: Me!

Addison Sparks, the heroine
of Subject 10. Normally, she
wouldn't be dressed like this, but
in one scene, she works as a
waitress.

This... is awkward.


Let me be honest: Creative Wednesday totally came up without any warning.I was sitting on the couch making fun of a doomsday preppers show or something like that and all of a sudden I though, "Oh snap! I'm supposed to have a blog post tomorrow!" So, unfortunately, you're stuck with me. Hopefully I won't bore you to death.

I actually wasn't even sure what to post for myself, but I have a few short stories and maybe some artwork to go with it. I haven't written too much that's worthwhile lately, but as always you can check out my novel-in-progress Subject 10. If you're not familiar with it, here's the blurb (which I really should rewrite, but oh well)"

Being kidnapped at ten years old, I was confused. Scared. No--terrified. Surrounded by caged rooms, poking scientists, and menacing needles, my only thought was that I needed to get out of there. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my chance until after the “doctors” had changed me. They made me into an experiment, a science fair project known as Subject 10.   

I wasn’t alone though.

There was another boy there, my age. His name was Xavier. He was my only friend during those six years we spent at the testing facility. And, by the time we were both sixteen, we had had enough.

My name is Addison Sparks and this is my story.  

For more short stories, click the jump!

Figment

Hey! So my friend in school was telling me about this website called Figment, and I just signed up about two days ago. Basically, it's like DeviantArt, but for writing. I made my own profile, so I thought you might like to check it out!
Click here for my Figment page.

Birthday!!

Hehe yay today's my birthday! I'm 14 now!

Alright so time for the long birthday blog post... Oh this will be fun. Just try not to fall asleep, okay?

Okay, so Thursday night, I went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner with my grandparents, and I made a HUGE mess with the cake. Friday night, I had my best friends at my house for a sleepover and I made a HUGE mess with the cake. It was like a serious deja vu. Moving right along, I had a BLAST with my friends Libby, Emily, and Nina. Nina's a bit... well, she's a bit crazy, but we lover her anyway. Even if she tortures us with One Direction (whom I call Misdirected) music. We went to this pottery painting place near my house first. I painted a cute unicorn, Libby pained a cat to look like her cat, Emily did a yin-yang symbol on a plate, and Nina painted something she had drawn earlier in the week on a tile. It was fun! So then we came back home and basically just hung out in my room until three in the morning. We were just absolutely crazy! Especially since I borrowed my Dad's minifridge and put a twelve-pack of Mountain Dew in it!
The next morning, it took EONS for Nina to get out of bed (I even dumped a bunch of Beanie Baby unicorns on her). But eventually, we all got downstairs for presents and breakfast. Of course, I went for the presents XD And they were all awesome! My younger brother gave me some "Bro Coupons", which are good for him doing anything for me. From my parents, I got a backpack (It has pretty stars on it!), Zelda t-shirt (YAY!!!), post-it notes, neon whiteboard markers, sharpies and pencil case that looks like a Converse sneaker (just amazing!). Nina bought me a really nice hat with butterflies on it (I love hats by the way. That one's number 16.), and some green, blue, and purple nail polish. My favorite colors! Libby gave me an AWESOME drawing (which is going right up in my bulletin board!), some new magnetic nail polish (can't wait to try it out!), and a gift card. Finally, from Emily I got the new, third and final Kane Chronicles book by Rick Riordan, The Serpent's Shadow, (I wanna read it NOW!!) and some new earrings in my favorite color!
So that's my birthday! Thanks everyone for the presents and gift cards, and thanks Libby, Emily, and Nina for coming over! I had an AWESOME time with all of you!

By the way, if you would like to see some pics of my presents, just click the jump.